Ashira Kairos sat with the clan leader of the titan blade, their room that oversaw the trial stage was a shrouded large room furnished to royalty status. It made her wonder just how far Xerxes had been pushed to treat the titan blade as such important a figure, for all she knew about the leader of the dragon’s brigade painted him as a man who cared not one bit about position. Dressed in a skin tight battle suit made by the best cloth makers of the Kairos empire, it was custom made for her soon to be ruler status, of course, everyone who was who in the empire had expected her to ascend and she knew a few of her mother’s friends itching to host the grandest ball ever seen in the history of the empire and were chafing at the leash to plead with her to ascend.

Ashira had made her intentions clear on that matter though, she wouldn’t be ascending without the titan blade reaching ruler rank and to the others who really knew about his true strength, the rank of a primordial. Her mother, surprisingly had accepted her proposal, vocally speaking in public about supporting her daughter fully, and that anyone who questioned the heir of Kairos was questioning Kairos himself, that had silenced the critics almost immediately.

And so, with her personal clan growing, she had moved to the side of her beloved, the man who stood trial and whose family she had surrounded herself with in this moment. The leader of his secret spying and infiltration sect known as Martha poured a red bubbling liquid from an opaque decanter into a set of gem studded wine glasses, sighing as she handed it to each of the members of the room. The vice leaders of the sects had been sent back to Gaia to watch over the holdings of the clan across the planet, leaving the sect leaders to act as emotional support of some kind for the titan blade. Pontiff Matthew whose eyes, Ashira had begun to notice was slowly getting a glint of gold,

The same glowing gold power that emanated from the titan blade,

As if noticing her gaze, Matthew turned to her, inclining his head a little,

“Lady Ashira, perhaps you can enlighten us on what to expect from this trial?” he asked curtly,

“Please, call me Ashira” she replied,

“Address the wife of Moyo by name?” josh said with startlement that confused Ashira,

Annika chuckled,

“Relax josh, we’re family, if you want to make her feel a part of us, we address her as one of us” she replied,

Ashira couldn’t help but perceive a flint of steel in Annika's tone, a part of her believed the lady of storms still hadn’t forgiven her for stealing Moyo from her, but Ashira knew what the storm empress didn’t, that Moyo’s heart wasn’t stealable, at least, not where that innocent battle hungry man she loved was concerned. She nodded in appreciation at the empress who nodded back before glancing at Martha who had a mischievous look in her eyes, along with an eager look to learn about the inner workings of the archailect.

Ashira shuddered at the kind of power the titan blade was slowly cultivating in his clan,

A sect soon to becoming a clan that was dedicated to subterfuge, the hands of Anansi,

A clan dedicated to pure destruction, the storm bringers,

A clan dedicated to pure protection, the titan’s sentinels,

A clan dedicated to the pure study and evolution of science and technology, the hammers of Ogun,

A clan dedicated to heralding the coming of the titan and his house by swift attacks, the dawn archers,

And an institution dedicated to alchemy, runes and pure mana, the six-folded cult,

As if without knowing, Moyo was building a well-rounded house, something few rulers had, even house Kairos had just for a few centuries begun to remodel their absurdly large house in an attempt to cover their weak points, but here was the titan’s fledgling house in the making, its foundations already all but secured. She sat straight as she spoke,

“There are hundreds of noble houses that rule the archailect, thousands upon thousands of influential clans that ride to the banners of these houses” she started,

“But in actuality, there are only ten great houses, these houses fluctuate from time to time, depending on if the main figure or figures that stand as an icon of power for that house dies or is indisposed for a period of time” she explained,

Dropping her wine glass, she crossed her legs and continued,

“These ten great houses are allowed to play games of power with each other, these games model the great games of the harbingers and primordials, who are also rumoured to model their games after the great games of the supreme beings’ she said,

“Wait, so the supreme beings play games?” Boyle asked from where a small clockwork creature scuttled from his palm to his shoulder, releasing a soft whistle sound,

She nodded her head,

“Oh yes, they do, the supreme beings rarely see eye to eye, infact, I suspect that if we weren’t under the realm of Lotes herself most times, the other supreme beings wouldn’t look kindly to Moyo, long story, we’d get to that later, for I’m not sure of the full story as well, some things are better left untouched” she warned,

Martha nodded with understanding, it was one of the things Ashira appreciated about her, the lady of spiders knew enough about dangerous secrets for she kept more than a few of her own as well. She spoke again,

“Now these ten houses decide the views of the archailect, even if they do it subtly, most of their powers are on the council after all” she said,

“For example, the house Terrangazer is the house of Xerxes himself, therefore they are a part of the ten great houses” she said,

“And how many of these great houses look kindly upon the titan blade with kindness?” Ayo asked,

“Well for starters, the five houses with harbingers do not like him, he’s a threat to the order of things, the status quo” she replied,

‘Five, not six?” Martha asked,

“indeed” Ashira said impressed,

“The sixth harbinger, Zane true blade heads a clan and not a house, and as such isn’t in the ten great houses” she replied,

“the houses are Dracon who are simply there due to their ties of Eses herself who seems not to even care about her slain child currently, house Terrangazer of harbinger Xerxes, house Tidebreaker, house Kairos, house Thousandblades who have just recently entered their ranks due to their overwhelming strengths as of recently, house Nebula of harbinger Eisnar, house Irios of harbinger Tixuhl, house Wolftide of harbinger Grimswolf, house Crestsun of harbinger Ernesh and house Garuda who I’m not sure you know” she said,

“Now, if we eliminate house Terrangazer who have formally withdrawn their position for this trial, we’d be left with nine houses, and then we eliminate Dracon because rumours have stated that Eses herself has ordered the entirety of the Dracon empire back to their home, we are left with eight” she said,

“Thank the supreme beings for small mercies” Annika murmured,

Ashira knew of the bad blood between clan titan blade and house Dracon, which was ironical seeing the great ties Moyo had with Eses, the progenitor of the house itself. She somehow knew that if house Dracon survived the onslaught that ajax was raining down on them, and lived to see the clan of the titan blade become a full-fledged house, retribution would be due, and the winner was a no brainer, future house titan blade bred monsters for ascenders. She dragged her mind back to the topic on the table,

“Four of those houses are harbinger houses, meaning enemies, to an extent at least” she said,

“Leaving us with four more houses” Samantha said, speaking for the first time,

“Indeed, Garuda, Thousandblades, Tidebreaker and Kairos” she said,

“Houses Kairos, Garuda and Thousandbladrs are our cemented allies, Tidebreaker however are…. undecided as of now” she said,

“Meaning we stand at a five to three ratio to sway the trial council, that isn’t good” Martha said with a frown,

"Indeed, again, it’s why I have taken the liberty to request the presence of an influential member of house Tidebreaker to visit us, they should be arriving any minute” Ashira said,

The sect leader stared at her, impressed and Ashira felt her heart flutter,

“Impressive, I approve, and I suspect you want me to wiggle my way into getting them to support us?” Martha asked sipping her liquid as her body began to subtly take on a regal stance,

The spider was coming out to play,

“Who said politics didn’t exist in the archailect?” Boyle said with a chuckle,

“Sure we couldn’t make it a sort of duel?” josh asked hopefully, Annika nodding along with him,

Ashira shook her head as they slumped in disappointment,

“For starters, he’s a master, the brother to the female ruler that lords house Tidebreaker, an ancient to boot again” Ashira explained,

“Well, that explains a lot” Ayo said,

“Very well, what should we know in advance?’ Martha asked,

“Well for starters, house Tidebreaker has always been a neutral house, staying clear of the great games unless they were forced to play, their responses were as brutal as they were memorable, the other houses may be stronger than them to an extent, but they know they’d lose quite a lot of their strength should they attempt to tangle with the Tidebreakers” she said,

“So we somehow have to convince a neutral house to support us?” Annika asked,

“Yes, and doing it in a way that Moyo would approve us, meaning not at the expense of our people” Martha murmured,

“The titan will give us strength” Matthew said,

Martha flicked an eye to the pontiff, unsaid words on her lips, Ashira had begun to notice the tense nature of the sects and the titan order, knowing well enough that Moyo had no desire to be viewed as a deity or anything related to that, Ashira had begun to notice the almost fanatical looks the members of the order had begun to have whenever they spoke about Moyo, which was a little bit disturbing seeing as she regularly witnessed it with her parents who were fine with their subjects viewing them as such.

Martha glanced away, no doubt shelving it for a later discussion, turning back to Ashira,

“I’ll work something around whoever it is” she said, regaining the concealed look of excitement in her eyes,

Ashira nodded, a spider appeared then,

“my lords, a man calling himself Kothon Tidebreaker, a master of house Tidebreaker” the spider in a black crystal mask said,

“Very well, let him in” Ashira said,

The spider bowed, turning and fading to the door, opening it as a humanoid looking bluish man stepped into the room. Dressed in a dark blue robe with the crest of swirling waves on his chest, eyes that flicked horizontally with a whitish filmy membrane over them. Hair made of short spiky looking hardened pins like those found on a puffer fish, the athletic man surveyed the room, hands folded behind him, tsking to himself,

“a bit short on notice lady Ashira, I may not have a primordial in my house, but I’m no lackey” Kothon Tidebreaker said,

Ashira inclined her head,

“My apologies master Kothon, but seeing as we were short on time, I think it is better late than never that we acted” Ashira replied,

The master raised an eyebrow,

“we?, I wasn’t under the impression that we were allies lady Ashira, I’m sure you of all people know the policy on which house Tidebreaker has always stood, the neutral ground” Kothon said,

Ashira smiled silently, gathering herself, lady Martha spoke,

“Is there such a thing as neutrality?” she asked silently, staring at her glass of liquid,

Kothon glanced at her, narrowing his eyes,

“a diamond dare speaks in the discussions of masters?” he whispered, power charging in the air,

Martha raised one finger, the spiders that had materialized out of nowhere freezing in their steps, rare weapons of near legendary strength in their hands as the power in the air charged. Then an electric current sizzled silently through the air, all gazes turning to Annika who hadn’t even twitched, but the spear Asagai in ger grip humming softly, a smile on her face,

“Careful master Kothon” Ashira said as she returned to her seat, gesturing for the Tidebreaker to take a seat opposite her,

“Those you see before you are the family of the titan blade, his clan leaders, and they speak with his voice, to insult or threaten them is to threaten the titan blade himself, now I don’t know much about the venerable ancient that rules your house, but are you really telling me she’d want to make an enemy of the titan blade?” Ashira asked,

Kothon pursed his dry lips,

“I won’t apologize to diamonds” he said,

“Nor should you, it would start our relationship on bad ground, frankly, I’d want you in a happy mood when you realize just what sort of potential allies house titan blade can be to you” Martha replied as she finally met his gaze,

Some primal emotion made Kothon flinch before he realized he had done so, something within her gaze made him tremble, and he quashed it immediately,

Or he thought he did anyways,

“Clan titan blade, you mean?” he corrected,

Martha simply smiled thinly at him,

“Please, seat, we have much to discuss” she said,

“Like what?” Kothon asked, folding his hands behind him again and resuming his movements,

He paused again when he noticed a master had actually been in the room, somehow evading his senses, the man in gold and purple armour that should had stood out had simply passed through a pathway into the room as quietly as possible, evading his senses. Kothon sat, turning to Martha,

“You haven’t answered my question, lady?” he asked,

“Oh, Martha, Martha web weaver, like how not making friends with house titan blade would be a loss for you and your house” Martha replied,

“There you go with the use of the term house; do you think houses are so easily made?” Kothon asked, crossing his legs,

Martha waved her hands,

“Irrelevant, as you’ll soon see, we as the current clan titan blade care little for the order of things” Martha said,

“Another issue being tabled against the titan blade, he’s…. odd method of doing things” Kothon said,

“But it has been effective, has it not?” Martha countered with a smile,

“indeed, but at what cost?, we learnt that his mentor is the disgraced terror bringer that is the omega blade, his blatant disruption of the order of things even from as low as a silver ranker, why would house Tidebreaker want to ally with such a being?” Kothon asked,

“Because the titan blade has done right, not by the standards of the powers that be of the archailect, but by the standards of the average folks of the archailect, as of now, millions upon millions look up to him personally, he has set the standard for his world and other worlds he holds, and because of that, the calibre of ascenders coming from them have improved” Martha replied dropping the glass of liquid on the glass table,

“Idris” Martha called,

Ashira flicked her eyes to the master who saluted as a show of respect to someone superior to him, apart from the slight shift done by Kothon, he showed no other signs of being surprised, Ashira hid a smile,

“How many ascenders did the lord titan blade start the war with?” she asked,

“a little over a thousand ascenders lady Martha” he replied,

What are the current figures of the legion?” she asked,

“Before the lord’s current conquest of creating a planet, a little over fifteen thousand, now with additional recruits from the worlds recently colonized by the clan along with the members of the titan order trained to join the legion, we’re approaching twenty thousand” he explained,

“And the casualty rate from the beginning of the war till now?” she asked,

“Regretfully approaching three thousand” he said, a hint of pain in his voice,

“May their souls rest in peace, what was the edict of the lord concerning their relatives or whosoever they left behind?” Martha asked,

“Already, inquisitorial ships have been dispatched back into the archailect proper to deliver the funds these ascenders had to their families and if they want, they are to be ferried back to titan itself or any of the other worlds we hold, the children are to be enrolled into learning institutions fully funded by the clan and their welfare also within the clan’s responsibilities” Idris explained,

“Now, while I’m surprised, how does this affect my house?” Kothon asked, already impatient,

“Because, respectfully, you aren’t seeing the future” Martha replied as Kothon bristled, no doubt at what he thought was being insulted by a mere diamond,

Martha continued though,

“more and more, the legends of the titan blade is spreading, and those supposedly being oppressed or who haven’t been able to rise up past their supposed lots in life will flock to his banner, and his motto has always been the same thing” Martha said, pointing to Idris,

“Grow stronger, protect those weaker than us” Idris said with no small reverence,

“So he gathers the runts of the archailect to his clan, good riddance” Kothon said, but Ashira could see it in his eyes,

The master was concerned,

No doubt, he was beginning to see the lines connecting, Martha however smiled,

“Master Kothon, how many masters do you think clan titan blade has?” she asked,

Kothon snorted,

“One, and I’m surprised he isn’t the one having this discussion with me” he replied, picking up a glass of the liquid,

Martha ginned wider, her predator side coming to the front as Kothon shifted uncomfortably,

“Lord general Idris, please, summon the guard” she said,

“No need, I did a few seconds ago” Idris said with a thin smile, no doubt enjoying the show,

A pathway opened and ten masters stepped into the room, chatting between themselves, Kothon spat his liquid in pure shock. The guard turned their attention to him,

“who’s the fish bloke?” Vaughn asked,

“Vaughn!” Lucina chided, hiding a laugh,

Kothon glanced at Martha in confusion,

“just what is going on?, who are they?, what is going on in the clan of the titan blade?” he cried,

“we are-“marcel started as Romulus slapped his head from behind,

“none of that hero pose!, I had enough with the archbishop” he growled,

“They are the guard of the titan blade, they protect him” Idris said,

Kothon stared, his head having a hard time processing his thoughts,

“so you see my point master Kothon” Martha said, dragging the attention of the Tidebreaker back to herself,

And now the kill Ashira thought with a supressed smile,

“House titan blade would become a bastion of such strength, it’ll need the great houses to at least work in conjunction together to even begin to attempt to unravel us, barring our alliance with houses Kairos, Garuda and Thousandblades who wouldn’t seat idly by while the other houses come for us” she said,

“now correct me if I’m wrong, but won’t the houses who oppose us attempt to at least draw your resources into their attempt to crush us?, where will your neutrality go then?” she asked,

Kothon took a few minutes to compose himself,

“What are you saying?” he asked,

“I’m saying a schism is coming, those who prefer the old order of things versus those pushing for a change” she said holding eyes with a master,

“Those who want to stop the tide that is the titan blade versus those who stand with him, and believe me, we might not be much, but when it comes to strength, we matter” she said,

“besides” she said picking her glass up,

“Odds are, by the end of this fiasco, every diamond in this room would be a master” she said,

Kothon’s eyes widened, glancing at Ashira who nodded,

“And I’m not sure you know, but when the titan becomes a ruler, well, I’d leave that for later” Martha said,

“so” she said, reclining on her chair,

“What says house Tidebreaker?” she asked with a smile as Kothon swallowed nervously.